SAOK: Pushing the Frontier
This article, , is the second chapter of Sword Art Online (Kenji). Kishi and Asuka are the primary characters. ---- December 4th 2022, approximately 40 minutes after the defeat of the 1st Floor Boss and the opening of the 2nd Floor. “Arashi, have you seen Kishi? He said he would show me around the new town.” Asuka asked. She was standing in the centre of the teleport plaza of the 2nd Floor. Alongside Kishi and Arashi, she had been one of the very first players to step foot through the teleport gate and enter the 2nd Floor. In fact, she was pretty sure the only people ahead of her had been a cloaked figure with whiskers on their face, two people she could only describe as ninjas, and a single man with a yellow coloured blade. She had been so excited that she had to admit not really paying attention to anything else. As soon as she turned around, however, she had found herself alone with Arashi; Kishi was nowhere to be seen. Arashi shrugged his shoulders. “Nope. He did say something about ‘getting there first’, and then he bolted. You should fire him off an instant message.” That would have made the person with the yellow blade Kishi then. Asuka’s eyes lit up. “Wait, you can do that!? Send messages to people? Show me how!” Arashi must have looked like a fish for a moment. His mouth kept opening and closing several times before his lip began to tremble. It was obvious that he was trying to keep from laughing, but right now he wasn’t really succeeding. “Did I say something funny?” Asuka asked. His self-control shattered. “You mean to tell me that you’ve been trapped here a month and you didn’t know about instant messages?” He finally managed to say, chuckling all the while. “Damn, I knew you were a noob, but this is taking the biscuit.” She apparently knew enough about gaming slang to know what noob meant because the look she gave Arashi would have soured milk. “Noob, am I?” What she did next was seen fully by several players and NPC vendors and everyone was laughing, computer controlled or not. Asuka made a show of inspecting several items at a nearby line of NPC market stalls. Some goods she inspected were basic healing potions, some were dyes, whilst others still were curative in nature. There was even a few cans of paint to personalize one’s furniture. One can of paint in particular, which was rose pink, smelled awful, and was seemingly there as a display option. Or as a means of warding off the local fly population. She didn’t know and didn’t care, but purchased one of the cans, looking to all around her very excited, loosened the lid, and then tripped. The contents of the foul-smelling paint went over the top of Arashi’s head, down his front, and pooled on the floor at his feet. “Oops,” she sounded, smiling demonically. “... Are you kidding me?” Asuka merely smiled innocently. “It was an honest mistake,” she quipped, trying to be all sweet. “I tripped.” “AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!” I wasn’t privy to this particular conversation, of course, because I was running full-pelt through the newly opened 2nd Floor of Aincrad. It was well within the realm of possibility that the earth-shattering scream of rage was heard on the 1st Floor, never mind the 2nd Floor. Okay, not really. But it was a fun thing to picture. If only I knew the truth. Back to me though. A daring group of 44 players had successfully mapped the 1st Floor labyrinth and laid the boss at its end, Illfang the Kobold Lord, low today. This magnificent achievement was only brought about after a terrible battle that saw the Raid Leader killed by the Boss. After almost a month of uncertainty and pointless death, we had finally cleared our first Floor! Player morale had never been higher, even in light of the fact that those remaining 43 were mourning the loss of an inspiration. It was the reason I was running with the wind in my hair and an honest to goodness smile on my face. It might have something to do with the fact I also liked the 2nd Floor. The 2nd Floor could be very roughly divided into its northern, southern, and western portions. The western area was classified as a rocky savanna and, coupled by the ox-men who inhabited the labyrinth tower, had led to the beta testers affectionately dubbing the floor the “cow floor”. That particular part of the landscape was littered with boulders and scattered foliage, widely spaced trees, and large looming mountains that overlooked the plains. Open space as far as the eye could see! Perfect for running. If only that was where I was. My feet were carrying me south, not west, which was the sight of a towering mountain. There was a small clearing there surrounded by tall cliffs, a spring, and a single lone tree. Inside this clearing was my goal. You see, my goal was altogether very “Beater” like. I was rushing ahead of the other players, refusing to share my toys like a good little boy, and almost everyone else was throwing temper tantrums as a result. Yeah, I didn’t like the current state of affairs. And people wonder why I tend to avoid large crowds of people? I suppose some background is needed on my sour mood. I guess I’ll start with the term I mentioned: “Beater”. This word was a lovely portmanteau of “beta tester” and “cheater” that had been created by the brave 43 not a minute after Illfang had burst into polygonal shrapnel. Remember the discrimination I mentioned before that was levied at the beta testers? Well, apparently Illfang’s attack patterns and weapons were different from the beta, and the death of Diavel -- the raid leader -- was the direct cause of this change. One beta tester in particular noticed the change in weaponry and subsequently rallied the shocked parties, calling patterns and the timing of attacks, allowing for the defeat of the Floor Boss. He claimed afterwards that he knew the timing of the attacks because he had fought monsters who used such attacks on higher floors in the beta. That should have been the end of it. Celebrations should have been had, momentum carried forward. But no, that would have been too easy. Sword Art Online was no fairytale world. As soon as the dust had cleared accusations were thrown left and right, with players suspecting others of being beta testers and withholding important information that had resulted in the death of a player. Before it came to player on player violence the beta tester who had led the group and delivered the killing blow stood in front of everyone and told them not to lump him in with those noobs. This beta tester was called «Kirito» and he then took the term «Beater» as his own classification when the calls of the players blended into a new word. His goal was simple: take the heat off the other testers so the front-line of player progress he and the other 42 had created didn’t sputter out before it had truly got started. Again, it should never have happened. It was all so pointless. I had to admit, though, that what he did was pretty ballsy. I told him as much in the message I fired off to him: «You don’t know me. Just wanna say thanks from one beta tester to another. What you did was pretty ballsy. If you need anything, just ask.» His reply was simple: «Thanks.» I got all this information from Aincrad’s very own well of information Argo who, like myself, was a beta tester. Whilst I was getting the gist of the story from her I also got Kirito’s name and thus the ability to message him in the first place. I was surprised because when I told her I planned to thank Kirito she dropped her customary fee with the stipulation I not tell “Kii-bou”, which I admit did give me a good laugh. Argo and her nicknames. I accepted her conditions. Want a fun fact? She knew me from my online gaming channel before we had actually met in the beta and her name for me, ‘cause she gives everyone nicknames, was «Shi». Thankfully my display indicated I had a message and I managed to skid to a halt, all thoughts of strangling the players discriminating against the beta testers chased away for a while. Rather than being from Arashi, as I had expected, it was actually from Asuka. «Can’t believe it took me a month to realize this game has a messenger! Where did you disappear to? I’m missing my tour guide.» I had a good laugh before I replied. She really was green as grass. «Sorry, had to get this done before word about this quest got out and everyone and their grandma wants a piece of the action. I should be back shortly. And I’ll treat you to more than a tour; I know a great little restaurant up here, with delicious desserts.» «I’m going to hold you to that! Bye!» I was just about to start running again when another notification blinked on my display. «P.S. I might have accidentally (but totally on purpose) drenched Arashi in pink paint. He’s pretty angry about the whole thing. I don’t think he’s talking to me any more.» The mental image of Arashi, decked out in full iron armour and drenched in pink paint, got a good old belly laugh from me. My laugh was so loud I actually thought I’d attract monsters. That was when I heard the mooing of a cow. Only this moo was altogether very bestial and the ground beneath my feet was beginning to shake. This was the reason I had been running like something half-possessed. But I’ll get to the reason I was being chased by a «Trembling Ox» in a bit. I sent Asuka a final message and went back to my mission. «Got it. I’ll be quick.» The quest I mentioned in my message to Asuka was a secret quest that granted the one who completed it an Extra Skill called «Martial Arts». As the name clearly suggested this was a Skill-tree that focused on the use of one’s arms and legs to launch Sword Skills, and once levelled to 50 proficiency a «Skill Mod» identified in-game as «Relax Equipment Conditions» could be acquired. This Mod allowed the player who possessed it to launch Sword Skills belonging to the «Martial Arts» Skill-tree even when equipped with a weapon, so long as you can still execute the appropriate triggering stance or motion. It opened up a whole plethora of attacking options, and given that Sword Art Online was now a death game, having options to fall back on wasn’t just nice but essential to survival. Besides, I was one of only two people, at least as far as I was aware, who actually discovered the Skill during the beta, and the other was Argo. And I highly doubted her willingness to sell that particular nugget of information, even for an exorbitant sum. You see, I actually knew the reason for her whiskers, but I’m afraid that’s a tale I can never tell. Amazingly I was the first to arrive at the clearing. I had trailed slightly behind Argo and the ninjas but I had seen a player with a long black coat give chase. The ninja’s goal was to extract the information about the Martial Arts quest from Argo, and they were apparently content using violence to achieve their goal. I knew many things from the beta, and one of those things was what the «Coat of Midnight» looked like. That was the «Last Attack bonus» from Illfang the Kobold Lord, Boss of the 1st Floor, and the person who had got the LA was Kirito. So I wasn’t worried about Argo’s safety. Hence, why I hadn’t opted to help myself. I only slowed my blistering pace when I stood outside the master’s hut inside the clearing. I can’t tell this particular story without ruining Argo’s secret but suffice to say you’re required to break an almost unbreakable rock, otherwise you can’t complete the quest and gain the Extra Skill. What I can tell you though is about my experiences with this lovely quest during the beta. I spent four days here hitting that rock. Yeah, have a good laugh. I did eventually break it though and looking back it was all so simple. By the end of the ordeal the only thing keeping me going had been professional pride. No way was I ever going to let it be said that a rock had beaten Kenji Hiroshi. The solution was surprisingly simple and it lay in the name the beta testers had given this particular segment of Aincrad: the “cow floor”. I was familiar with a quest on the 2nd Floor that dropped high-quality ore, but only if there was a blacksmith in the party, and only if you could mine the ore from the rock formations that spawned upon accepting the quest. One ingenious player, however, who wasn’t a miner but had a blacksmith friend, used the local speciality to his advantage. The «Trembling Ox» was a mainstay of that particular area but its numbers exploded when the quest was initiated. The «Trembling Ox» never switched targets when someone entered its range and gained aggro, and they chased their target down until one of two ultimate conclusions were reached; either the target died, or the ox died. Now picture a large cow about two meters tall from the ground to its shoulder with a proportionate muscle mass? Got it pictured? Good. Now imagine that thing chasing after you. The first instinct of most would be to run. And who wouldn’t? But what if the ox held the key to breaking those rock formations and yielding up to the player the rare ore? I was a player-killer in the beta and during my four-day rock-crushing crusade I came upon the ingenious player I mentioned, obscured by my amazing «Hiding» Skill. He ran circles around the ox, leading them to charge through rocks, whilst his friend collected the ore from amongst the pulverized stone. And I felt a light-bulb go off in my head. The «Trembling Ox» had a massively long aggro timer. When I smacked one on the tail I led it all the way back to the clearing, through tunnels that barely held its massive girth, and right through that supposedly unbreakable rock! Now you know why a «Trembling Ox» was chasing me today. I accepted the quest from the old NPC, stood in front of the much-talked-about stone, and waited for the ground beneath my feet to start shaking. When the «Trembling Ox», who had been my distant yet constant companion since I set out from Urbus, appeared, I waved my hand towards him and beckoned it to come on. I didn’t know if monsters in Sword Art Online held grudges, but I was pretty sure that a normal «Trembling Ox» didn’t stamp or snort as angrily as the one in front of me half as often as he did. “This is an awful idea,” I said at last, just as the ox burst into a run. I waited until the last possible second before turning and running up along the stone. I managed three steps along the stones surface, my foot almost slipping by the third step, before leaping off it into the air! My Strength and Agility was just about at the level I needed and for about two seconds I was sailing through the air. The ox passed below me and before its head smashed the unbreakable rock to smithereens I landed lightly atop its back portion, where I leapt down to the floor safely. The unmistakable sound of stone crumbling to bits filled the clearing and at that moment I turned on the ox! My «Scimitar» glowed as I fired off my fastest Sword Skill with the shortest post-motion delay and cool down period in my possession. Reaver, which sent me barrelling forward into the ox’s tail and backside, cut a clean gash into its muscled hide! The entire regime played out over the next five minutes and the «Trembling Ox» who had been my companion and quest MVP burst into polygonal dust. Not that I hadn’t come out of the battle spotless either. My gear definitely needed repairing. “I’ll remember you every time I punch something, Betsy, I promise.” I completed the quest, slotted «Martial Arts», had the thing I couldn’t talk about wiped off my face by the master NPC, and set out again at a sprint. As soon as I reached the entrance to the cave leading into the clearing I activated my «Hiding» Skill and sat inside a nice little nook in the cave wall. The location, coupled with my proficiency in the Skill, gave me an overall hidden percentage of 95%. I sat there until I heard voices and footsteps. As I had expected Kirito, decked out in the «Coat of Midnight», and Argo, in her usual leather clothing, approached. I waited until they both passed by my hiding place, with my hiding percentage falling to about 70% when Kirito casually glanced in my general direction, but he never gave an outward sign he had noticed that something was hidden inside the nook. When they were through to the clearing I left my position and made a B-line for Urbus. “There you are!!” Asuka exclaimed as I skidded to a halt near the entrance to Urbus. She stood looking at me with her head tilted to the side with the purple ribbon in her hair blowing lazily in the wind. It was obvious to me that she was inspecting my equipment, and I was fairly certain that I detected a hint of concern in that look. My suspicions were confirmed when I sent a party invite to her, and she let out a cute squeak sound when she saw the condition of my HP bar. I had dropped below the yellow zone and into the red! “Swallow this!!” “''Whthhel,” My intended ''what the hell came out as garbled gibberish as she practically force-fed me a healing potion! She was so forceful I half expected the anti-criminal code to kick in and generate a purple protective barrier. Thankfully this didn’t occur and neither did a menu flash up asking if I wanted to whisk her away to the prison on the 1st Floor. I made an exaggerated hacking sound to simulate choking, but all I ended up doing was to contribute to her concern. “Why didn’t you heal yourself!?” “... Ran out,” I answered, sounding rather pathetic. “Why didn’t you come back before now!?” “... Hadn’t finished,” and by now I sounded like a thoroughly admonished child. A moment of silence passed, Asuka looking cross and me looking thoroughly deflated, before I exhaled loudly and long. “Sorry about bolting, and sorry about worrying you. I’m also sorry for not giving you the tour I promised.” I said, recovering my senses. An apology seemed to placate her and the worried look quickly gave way to her usual pretty expression. “That’s fine. I’m not going to flip just because you vanish for a spell, but look after you HP more.” Her smile turned demonic however. “Speaking of flipping out. Arashi’s been staring daggers at me since the paint incident! I’m surprised he hasn’t tripped the anti-criminal code yet.” “... You are evil, and I love it.” “Me? Evil? No way, I just don’t handle insults well.” “Point taken. Now, how about that dessert I promised you? You know, before you decide to flip and dye my hair pink.” Arashi was seated on one of the steps leading up to the teleport gate and he looked about as cross as I had ever seen him. His black hair was mostly covered in pink splotches of widely distributed paint, his armour was streaked across the front plate, and his boots appeared to have soaked up much of what had pooled on the floor around him. Oddly someone, and I had a vague idea who, had written the words “Noob Hater” on his back in bright and very noticeable pink letters. “Looks good on you,” I said as I passed him. Rather than walk on however I stopped beside him. “I hope you choke on your dessert,” he answered, sounding particularly sour. “Buh-bye, Arashi! I had fun!” Asuka stated as she ran ahead. “Bite me,” Arashi answered, though I noticed that he whispered. Overall, that was altogether more friendly than I had expected it to be, in all honesty. Arashi wasn’t exactly known for his temper, even under the best of circumstances, but this was altogether very un-Arashi like behaviour. He was actually being quite sporting about the whole ordeal. I made sure Asuka had walked a little farther ahead and was out of ear-shot before I spoke to him again. “You like her, don’t you?” I wasn’t teasing him. I was speaking matter of factly, one friend to another. “Not in that way, but yeah. She’s good fun.” He answered, before fixing me with a look. “She does like you however; if you had spent some time with her today, instead of bolting to unlock «Martial Arts», you’d have seen that.” It was then that he smiled. “If I wasn’t a better friend I could have slid in between you two. Just don’t do anything stupid like I did, ‘cause she’s devious.” “Thanks, Wingman.” He lazily waved his hand in farewell as I clapped him on the shoulder. I was pretty sure I heard him mutter something about a shower before I left. “How’s he taking it?” She actually looked concerned. “I wouldn’t worry. You see, he actually likes you; says you’re good fun to be around. And when we’re on the subject of being around, I really am sorry for disappearing without a word earlier.” “Consider yourself forgiven. But only if this dessert you mentioned is as good as you say!” The restaurant in question was a small out of the way bed and breakfast about a ten-minute walk from the teleport plaza, through several alleyways and slim back streets, and was almost impossible to find unless you got really lucky or knew where to look. In the beta I was the former. I only found it after attempting to leap along the rooftops and falling flat on my backside. The sign hanging above the door read «Moo Moo Milk». I had to admit, when I saw it I pictured a cuddly pink Miltank from Pokemon. Maybe the name wasn’t coincidental? The restaurant was a small room on the ground floor off the main hallway to the right. The entranceway was a short thin corridor and the semi-circular counter was situated at the bottom of the staircase leading upwards, nestled into the side. On the left-side was a quaint seating area with two tables and a total of ten chairs. The walls were plainly decorated in dark wood panels up until about halfway and the top portion was painted white. Neutral, and a bit plain, but cosy. This had been my base for a good portion of the beta test. I looked over at Asuka and saw that her brown eyes were distinctly cake shaped. “Trust me enough to order?” I asked. She nodded. I led her through to the dining room and ordered for the two of us with an NPC waitress. Although plain as far as decor was concerned «Moo Moo Milk» was an Italian-themed restaurant as far as the food was concerned, and I was delighted to see that this had not changed from the beta. In total, I ordered an Italian soup to start, a portion of spiced kebabs and a side of salad as our main, and asked the waitress for the dessert dish only after we had finished our starter and main. “This place reminds me of a little place in Niijima,” she said as we took our seats. “An island girl?” I asked, curiosity caught. “I’m from Izu Oshima myself.” Her eyes flashed curiously. Our soup arrived just as the taboo subject of our real world lives could be discussed in greater detail. It comprised of potato, cabbage and finely cut and almost non-existent sausage, with mild spices. Food texture and taste was something the system did a very good job replicating in Sword Art Online, at least in my opinion. Even here in the virtual world partaking of food was a daily requirement. So it was nice when the food you ordered was replicated to a pretty high standard. “That was delicious,” and she dabbed at her slight lips with a white handkerchief. The second dish arrived within seconds of our starters being cleared. This was perhaps my one complaint about restaurants in Aincrad. The NPC cooks and waiters were perhaps a little too efficient. One of the points of dining out, at least in my own humble opinion, was the chance to converse between courses and get to know the person you were dining with. In Sword Art Online that was skipped almost completely. It didn’t half kill the mood. I noticed that she only picked around her kebabs but finished the whole salad and filed that information away for the future. “Too spicy?” I asked. “I went to Italy on holiday once,” she answered as she set her fork down. “I ate what the waiter called ‘fiery chicken skewers’, and they were blisteringly hot. These kebabs remind me of those.” I didn’t tell her that, outside virtual reality, I barely ate anything spicy. The reason being that it gave me cramps that ultimately made me a prisoner to the toilet seat with Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” playing in the background. Mentioning that would probably kill the mood, so I wisely kept my mouth shut. The dessert that arrived, and was actually the whole reason I took Asuka here in the first place, was essentially a rich cheesecake without a crust. This particular dish was a variation of the Italian rasgulla, which itself was made from ball-shaped dumplings of cottage cheese and cooked in light syrup and sugar. Our dish, at least in the real world, was called “ras malai”, but was called «Moo Moo Cheesecake» here in Aincrad. Its main ingredients were chhana or cheese curds, malai, which is a cooking ingredient made by heating and then cooling milk to remove fat, and sugar. It was quite rich -- and bloody expensive at 900 cor per serving! -- but Asuka seemingly loved it, and polished off her own and the leftovers of mine before sighing contentedly. “That was lovely, thank you.” “You’re very welcome.” Her contented look quickly gave way to confusion however. I knew what confused her. She was a member of my party, you see, and a new icon had appeared beside her name on our respective displays. Given that she was as green as grass as far as gaming was concerned she likely didn’t have a clue what this icon was. It appeared as a little man, with bleeding wounds, and a large + floating beside him. “Why is my name suddenly bleeding?” She asked, all whilst pointing to where roughly her name was on my display. “That’s the second reason I brought you here,” I revealed. “Do you remember what I told you about your claws yesterday?” “Yes! It was the whole DoT thing. Does this have something to do with that?” “It does. That icon is a buff -- in games like Sword Art Online, a player can benefit from any number of additional buffs, the same way they can suffer debilitating effects. You’re familiar with two already.” Her eyebrow perked up as I said this. “I am?” “Your «Sprint» Skill enhances your evasiveness. This is what is called a passive buff. When you fought that wolf and were knocked prone, you suffered the «Tumble» status. This is a debuff. A DoT -- in the case of your new claws this is called «Bleeding» -- is a debuff you inflict on a target. That icon you have at the moment increases the percentage chance of any DoT chance taking effect.” I smiled and, for added effect, tipped my non-existent hat. “This is Kishi-sensei, signing off.” I left out the bit about me using the claws she was equipped with currently in the beta to kill other players. In the official release killing another player was akin to murder and it understandably made people uncomfortable. “... That is so awesome! Thanks! So how long does this buff thingy last?” “They all vary but this one lasts 24 hours. And the nice thing? Some food items degrade so quickly you can’t take them with you. This dessert can be carried with you for at least a day before it degrades.” I was looking forward to some post-dinner conversation but what she said next surprised me. “We can’t let this buff go to waste!” She suddenly exclaimed as she got to her feet. “Will you help me get materials to enhance my claws with? Arashi said something earlier about my level being low for this Floor, so I’d rather not go gathering alone.” “Sure, that’s fine with me.” “Good. Oh, but I need «Windwasp» materials, and I’m allergic to wasps. Like, I burst out in big lumps, allergic.” I sighed. Somehow I had a feeling I was going to be turned into a human-sized pin cushion sometime in the immediate future. And I wasn’t wrong. Our battle strategy involved me attacking a single wasp with my «Martial Arts». Once I tripped their aggro with my initial attack Asuka unleashed Acute Vault, which was a charging claw attack, to kill the weakened wasp. Once my proficiency reached 50 in «Martial Arts» I took the Mod I had thought about earlier and began chaining my one-handed curved Sword Skills into a position enabling me to land a «Martial Arts» Sword Skill before I went into a post-motion delay, in effect allowing me to hit with two Sword Skills in quick succession. “You just used two Sword Skills,” Asuka noted, surprised. “How did you do that?” This wasn’t exactly easy to explain because it was a matter of exploiting the primary systems employed as part of Sword Art Online’s combat engine to achieve an unfair advantage. This particular kind of exploit wasn’t unheard-of in the gaming industry, but Sword Art Online was uncharted territory. The world’s very first VRMMORPG. “You know how you enter a post-motion delay every time you use a Sword Skill, right?” She nodded. “Well, this was… I was going to say technique… but it’s actually an exploit, that I discovered during the beta. Basically, whenever I use specific Sword Skills, I can subtly shift my body into the position required to launch a Sword Skill from the «Martial Arts» Skill-tree, or finish my original attack in the required posture.” “But how would that help you launch another Sword Skill? Shouldn’t you be frozen?” “That’s where the exploit comes in. You see, there’s a very slight delay between the Sword Skill ending and the post-delay beginning, and that time frame is just large enough to register another Sword Skill, which overwrites the delay with the attacking animation.” Her eyes lit up but I forestalled her. “It’ll only work with «Martial Arts». You’ll enter an «Irregular Equipment State» that prevents the use of all Sword Skills if you equip two at once, and it’ll stay in effect until you return to a one-handed weapon.” “... I don’t really get the mechanics, but I do see how it’ll be useful.” She looked skywards, noting the darkening of the sky. “Shall we get back to it? I’ve almost hit my quota.” “Yeah, I’d like to be back in Urbus before nightfall.” By the time night had fallen, and we were returning to town with enough materials to see Asuka’s claws upgraded to at least +3, I was pretty sure people would soon be calling us Wasp Bane. We’d racked up considerable numbers in terms of wasp kills! “... I had a great time today.” She said outside the door of her room. “Thank you.” Incidentally Arashi, Asuka and myself had rented out the entirety of the rooms available in «Moo Moo Milk». “Same here. I’ll see you in the morning and talk you through weapon upgrades.” “It’s a date!” With that accomplished, our opening adventure on the 2nd Floor came to an end. End.